I think the most interesting place to start has to be at linebacker. As mentioned yesterday in Mike Reiss’ notes, Hightower has seen sometime at WLB which would put him closer to the line of scrimmage which is really where I think he’s best.
General consensus was that he’d move to Mike to replace Spikes in base, but I think we all agree that Hightower isn’t exactly the ideal Mike linebacker in coverage.
The Pats scheme has been a hybrid defensively, so it’s hard to put things into a neat box. They will evolve again this year, and if that means Mayo goes to Mike it give the defense some new twists.
First, Mayo is the best coverage linebacker and has the best speed. So if you’re really looking to take away the seam routes, he’s the best bet there. Hightower and Collins being closer to the line of scrimmage where they can use their size and speed to not only disrupt receivers at the line but also get after the quarterback makes a lot sense.
The weakness could be up the middle though, where Mayo doesn’t have the ideal stopping power you’d want against teams that run up the gut a lot. Of course, they could always shift to a 3-4 against those teams and put Hightower in the middle where he would be effective against the run.
As for the defensive line and secondary, there’s just a ton of versatility and different tools for each game plan. It’s hard to really say what they WILL do, but the CAN do just about anything.
The only thing they really lack is a true strong safety but they’ve been moving away from that for years. The safety depth chart should really just be one single depth chart and the top two play. McCourty and Harmon can both do just about everything, but most importantly, both can play in space and have good range. You need that more than a thumping box safety now.